Iran and world powers resume work on political declaration

LAUSANNE, April 1. /TASS/. The experts of the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - and Iran have taken a pause at the negotiations until Wednesday morning to resume the work on the political framework agreement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Iran and six world powers negotiating in the Swiss city of Lausanne have reached an agreement in principle "on all key aspects" of a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

Some foreign ministers have left Lausanne and the work will be continued by experts.

The outcome of the diplomatic effort, formulated in a political framework declaration, will be unveiled by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Zarif told journalists that the experts would resume their work early in the morning. The goal is to finalise the work, he stressed. "I hope that we can finalise the [preliminary] work and start the process of drafting [a final accord]," Zarif said.

A source in the P5+1 delegation told TASS that the declaration is not expected to have "a detailed scrutinizing of the issues." In particular, Iran and the P5+1 have yet to work out a joint position on the steps towards the sanctions relief.

"There are no absolutely final marginal parameters on the enrichment program and the details of the scientific and research activity are being discussed," the source said.

Lavrov earlier said "the agreement includes an all-encompassing approach, including measures of verification of the nuclear program’s exclusively peaceful nature by the IAEA, as well as extensive provisions on lifting sanctions.".